


The Greatest Gift

by hazeltea (madlovescience)



Category: Strangers With Candy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-10
Updated: 2011-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-14 15:54:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/150956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlovescience/pseuds/hazeltea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for 2008 Yuletide. Chuck and Geoffery get locked in on Christmas Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Greatest Gift

"We can sit here all day, people, and all week if need be." Chuck Noblet leaned forwards across his desk, annoyance and menace engraved in his features. "If you want to waste your entire winter break staring at me, be my guest, because no one is leaving this room until whoever replaced the baby Jesus in the manger with a spiral cut ham confesses." Chuck stood up straighter, and crossed his arms over his chest. "The Good Lord already knows the culprit, there's no use in hiding."

The room was silent save for the sound of a few shuffling feet, as the students snuck glances at the clock over the door. Chuck snuck a glance himself, while pretending to adjust his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Twenty-eight minutes already! What was wrong with the little bastards? Didn't they want to go home?

"Jerri." He snapped, striding forward angrily.

Jerri Blank looked up from the crude carving she was etching into her desk. "What?" she groaned.

He smacked the pen knife from her fingers and scowled. "Why don't you just apologize so that we can leave." Chuck asked, through gritted teeth.

Jerri rubbed her stinging hand. "Because I didn't do it." She whined, peering up at him pitifully through layers of greasy eye shadow.

"I've got no time for this, Jerri. I want you back here at six A.M sharp to slop out the nativity stables."

"Six A.M.?" Jerri cried, throwing down her book bag in disgust.

"You heard me. You've got stable duty until New Year's day." Well, problem solved! "Get out." He ordered, with a sweep of his arm. "Go on, everyone. Out. Merry Christmas." The room emptied in a frenzied mob.

He sighed, and began to gather his belongings into his scuffed leather briefcase. "Keeping the kids on Christmas Eve, Chuck?" came an eager voice behind him. "Keeping me waiting?" Chuck looked up at his lover in a mixture of annoyance and bemusement. Geoffrey was wearing an expensive looking red turtleneck sweater and his curls were pushed back by a set of plush antlers. His smile was freshly bleached, shining almost as brightly as the novelty string of lights around his neck. He shuffled on his feet, a bit nervously. "I've been out there for over a half hour. We're the only ones here." Geoffrey's voice warbled with barely contained excitement.

"I told you, I can't stay tonight, Geoffrey." Chuck replied, snapping his briefcase shut. "I've got Midnight Mass tonight. I'm the second wise man in the nativity reenactment."

Geoffrey's smile faded and his eyes turned troubled. "But that's at midnight, it's only the afternoon." He sighed. "Christmas is supposed to be about spending time with the one you love, isn't it?"

"I have to be in costume by ten." Chuck replied. "And no, Christmas is about celebrating the miracle of the birth of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. It's not about spending time with the one you love, it's not about crass commercialism, it's about faith and glory and doing your duty to God and tradition by going to Mass. Not that you'd know." He added, snidely. "What are you this week, Geoffrey? Hindu? Muslim?"

"Buddhist, Chuck." He snapped, placing his hands on his hips. "But that doesn't mean that I can't celebrate Christmas."

"That just goes to show how little you know about it." Chuck replied. "People like you-"he grunted as he lifted the spiral ham, and tossed it to Geoffrey, who caught it against his chest with an audible thump- "annoy me." Chuck strode past him, towards the front entrance of the school.

"God damn it!" Geoffrey's eyes narrowed, and he stormed after him. "You know, I really put in an effort. I never ask that you sacrifice your home life for me. I never ask that you put me first. I sit home alone on all of the holidays, while you celebrate with your family, but you don't seem to appreciate any of that! I'm not asking for Christmas, Chuck. Christmas Eve. One evening, not even the whole day! It's not even a real holiday, or we wouldn't be at work."

Chuck froze in the vestibule, his hand on the door. Geoffrey's confidence rose as he realized that Chuck must finally be listening to him.

"Better put that ham in the oven." He said, grimly, jiggling the handle on the door. "It's locked."

Geoffrey's elation was tinged with a jealous irritation as Chuck paced the floor of the home ec room, stretching out the phone cord as far as it could manage, then back again as the tired cord coiled back around itself. "No, no one's working on Christmas Eve. It's a locksmith, not a supermarket." A pause. "One of the students is coming by in the morning. Six AM. "I'll be back before he wakes up." A longer pause. "I'm sure they'll understand. Yes.... Yes, as soon as I can, okay? Tell him I'm helping Santa." A nervous chuckle escaped him. "You too, okay? Love you, honey." Geoffrey flinched, and looked away as Chuck placed the phone back on the receiver.

"So... just you and me tonight." Chuck grinned, and rested his hands on Geoffrey's shoulders, making the other look up with a faint trace of hope in his expression.

Chuck leaned closer, so that Geoffrey could see the intensity in his eyes. Their lips met briefly, and in the split second they parted, the air seemed to be charged with a potent energy, drawing them back in to a frenzied embrace of lips, hands, fingers; of rumpled clothing being yanked this way and that in a desperate attempt to put skin to skin, as much as possible, and as quickly as possible.

A cloud of thick smoke broke the intensity of their kisses, and Chuck pulled away, coughing. "The ham." He choked. "Turn that thing off." He opened the window, and fanned out the smoke with a worn out dish towel. Geoffrey scurried across the kitchen, and rescued the nearly charred roast. He turned to face Chuck and stopped in his tracks as he regarded the open first story window behind him. Disappointment burst in his chest, and settled into his stomach. Locking the doors had been such a perfect plan, how could he have forgotten about the windows?

"So you're really going to stay tonight?" Geoffrey asked, a bit skeptically.

"Got no choice." Chuck replied, with a small grin. "I mean, we're locked in, might as well make the best of it, right?"

"Yeah." Geoffrey replied, suddenly smiling wide. "Let's do that."


End file.
